Proverbs are popularly defined as "short expressions of popular wisdom". Efforts to improve on the popular definition have not led to a more precise definition. The wisdom is in the form of a general observation about the world or a bit of advice, sometimes more nearly an attitude toward a situation.
See also English proverbs (alphabetically by proverb)

"Starting properly ensures the speedy completion of a process. A beginning is often blocked by one or more obstacles (potential barriers) the removal of which may ensure the smooth course of the process."

"Starting properly ensures the speedy completion of a process. A beginning is often blocked by one or more obstacles (potential barriers) the removal of which may ensure the smooth course of the process."

John Bunyan cites this traditional proverb in The Pilgrim's Progress, (1678):

"So are the men of this world: They must have all their good things now; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good. That proverb, 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,' is of more authority with them than are all the divine testimonies of the good of the world to come."

Birds of a feather flock together.

"It is a fact worthy of remark, that when a set of men agree in any particulars, though never so trivial, they flock together, and often establish themselves into a kind of fraternity for contriving and carrying into effect their plans. According to their distinct character they club together, factious with factious, wise with wise, indolent with indolent, active with active et cetera."

"I made the statement years ago which is often quoted that 80 percent of life is showing up. People used to always say to me that they wanted to write a play, they wanted to write a movie, they wanted to write a novel, and the couple of people that did it were 80 percent of the way to having something happen."

"We should never use an old tool when the extra labor in consequence costs more than a new one. Thousands wear out their lives and waste their time merely by the use of dull and unsuitable instruments."

"We often apply it to exchanges among servants, clerks, or any persons employed, whose service, at first, in any new place, is very good, both efficient and faithful; but very soon, when all the new circumstances have lost their novelty, and all their curiosity has ceased, they naturally fall into their former and habitual slackness."

"The Elder Brother of a Houfe depending on his Eﬁate, is either indulged by Parents, or gives up himfelf to an indolent Humour, that his Soul in his Body, like a Sword in the Scabbard, ruﬁs for want of life, thinking‘ his Eﬁate fuﬂicient to gentilize him, if he have but only the Accompliihment of a Fox-Hunter, or a Country Juftice; the Younger Brother being put to his fhifts, having no Inheritance to depend upon, by plying his Studies hard at Home, and accompliihing himfelf by Travels Abroad, oftentimes, either by Arts or Arms, raifes himfelf to a confpicuous pitch of Honour, and fo becomes much the better Gentleman."

"It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of inadequacy and impotence. They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it."

Cf. Thomas ReidEssays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, 1786, Vol. II, p.377, Essay VII, Of Reasoning, and of Demonstration, ch. 1: "In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of this chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest." [5]

Belfour, John (1812). "C". A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages, the Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. G. Cowie. p. 4.

Spare the rod, spoil the child.

"Never count your children twice." An old saying from the Anglo-Welsh border, where it was believed to be unlucky to do so. This saying arises from old superstition, which may have been contributed to in part by the terrain, which is rugged, hilly and sparsely populated; the region is also often subject to dense fog and disappearances under mysterious circumstance were not uncommon. Hence, the unlucky nature as on the second count, it was believed one child would most likely have disappeared; lost forever to the hills.

Though thou hast ever so many counsellors, yet do not forsake the counsel of thy own soul. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1044)

"It is so easy to be immature. If I have a book to serve as my understanding, a pastor to serve as my conscience, a physician to determine my diet for me, and so on, I need not exert myself at all. I need not think, if only I can pay: others will readily undertake the irksome work for me. The guardians who have so benevolently taken over the supervision of men have carefully seen to it that the far greatest part of them (including the entire fair sex) regard taking the step to maturity as very dangerous, not to mention difficult. Having first made their domestic livestock dumb, and having carefully made sure that these docile creatures will not take a single step without the go-cart to which they are harnessed, these guardians then show them the danger that threatens them, should they attempt to walk alone. Now this danger is not actually so great, for after falling a few times they would in the end certainly learn to walk; but an example of this kind makes men timid and usually frightens them out of all further attempts."

"Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue."

Francis Bacon, Essays (1825), Of Judicature.

Based on the Bible (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31). "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" in the King James version; "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." in the New International Version

It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Anonymous American proverb; this has often been attributed to Mark Twain since at least 1998 on the internet, but no contemporary evidence of Twain ever using it has been located.

Variants:

It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the fight in the dog that matters.

"Stub Ends of Thoughts" by Arthur G. Lewis, a collection of sayings, in Book of the Royal Blue Vol. 14, No. 7 (April 1911), as cited in The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, edited by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro, p. 232

It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the fight in the dog that wins.

Anonymous quote in the evening edition of the East Oregonian (20 April 1911)

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight — it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Bernard of Clairvaux attests in the 12th century this was a common proverb, In Festo Sancti Michaelis, Sermo 1, sect. 3; translation from Richard Chevenix Trench, Archbishop of Dublin, On the Lessons in Proverbs ([1853] 1856) p. 148

Also reported in English by John Heywood, Proverbs (1546), Part II, chapter 9; and by Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1732), No. 3292

Belfour, John (1812). "E". A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages, the Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. p. 104.

"I've never set out to teach anyone anything. It's been more of an expression of my views and feelings than sitting down and deciding "What is today's message?" And I do think that, although I never, again, sat down consciously and thought about this, I do think judging, even for my own daughter, that children respond to that than to 'thought for the day'."

"This Proverb intimates, That it is natural for all living Creatures, whether rational or irrational,to consult their own Security, and Self-Preservation; and whether they act by Instinct or Reason, it stilltends to some care of avoiding those things that have already done them an Injury." - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [7]

Do not add oil to the fire.

"One should not make a bad situation even worse by an improper remark." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 338)

Fight fire with fire. (Strauss 1994, p. 688)

"The best way to deal with an opponent is to fight back with similar weapons or tactics."

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

The earliest known version is from Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie, Mrs. Dymond (1885 novel): "I don't suppose even Caron could tell you the difference between material and spiritual,[...] but I suppose the Patron meant that if you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn. But these very elementary principles are apt to clash with the leisure of the cultivated classes."

"Many are accustomed to envy others for their rare acquisitions, while they themselves have equal opportunity of obtaining the same. They ought to be satisfied that as good advantages are equally accessible to them as others, and remember the significant saying, that 'Man is the architect of his own fortune.'"

"God does not love that which is already in itself worthy of love, but on the contrary, that which in itself has no worth acquires worth just by becoming the object of God's love. Agape has nothing to do with the kind of love that depends on the recognition of a valuable quality in its object. Agape does not recognize value, but creates it. Agape loves, and imparts value by loving. The man who is loved by God has no value in himself; what gives him value is precisely the fact that God loves him. Agape is a value-creating principle."

Note: A reversal of the proverb "The apple does not fall far from the tree." The meaning is that you can estimate how children's parents are based on children's behavior, because children takes after their parents and are of the same nature as them. (Paczolay, 1997 p. X)

"Give way slightly and he'll press home his advantage. Yielding a little to bad influence (or to a greedy perrson/group), one will be taken entirely or he/it will be encouraged to take much more." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 208)

Follow glory and it will flee, flee glory and it will follow thee. (Strauss 1994, p. 832)

"It was queer. All over England young men were eating their hearts out for lack of jobs, and here was he, Gordon, to whom the very word 'job' was faintly nauseous, having jobs thrust unwanted upon him. It was an example of the fact that you can get anything in this world if you genuinely don't want it."

"When Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House, he confessed that if he could be right 75 percent of the time, he would reach the highest measure of his expectation. If that was the highest rating that one of the most distinguished men of the twentieth century could hope to obtain, what about you and me? If you can be sure of being right only 55 percent of the time, you can go down to Wall Street and make a million dollars a day. If you can't be sure of being right even 55 percent of the time, why should you tell other people they are wrong?"

Dale Carnegie, How to make friends and influence people (1936)

"It is better to decide a difference between enemies than friends, for one of our friends will certainly become an enemy and one of our enemies a friend."

"Someone can conquer kingdoms and countries without being a hero; someone else can prove himself a hero by controlling his temper. Someone can display courage by doing the out-of-the-ordinary, another by doing the ordinary. The question is always-how does he do it?"

"This proverb imitates that an inbred Philauty runs through the whole Race of Flefh and Blood. It blinds the Underftanding, perverts the Judgment, depraves the Reafon of the Diftinguishers of Truth and Falfity."

"Concentrate on one thing at a time or you will achieve nothing. - Trying to do two or more things at a time, when even one on its own needs full effort, means that none of them will be accomplished properly."

He that hath a head of wax must not walk in the sun. (Ward, 1842 p. 54)

Two heads are better than one.'

Ray, John (1737). "T". A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs;: Also the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages. : The Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. p. 164.

We should not expect to find old heads on young shoulders. (Strauss, 1994 p. 77)

Variant: You can't put an old head on young shoulders.

"The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise."

Alden Nowlan, Between Tears and Laughter by (1971) (Source provided by the Quote Investigator)

When the head is sick, the whole body is sick. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1117)

A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.

"We gotta make a changeIt's time for us as a people to start makin' some changesLet's change the way we eatLet's change the way we liveAnd let's change the way we treat each otherYou see the old way wasn't workin'So it's on us to do what we gotta do to survive"

Dying words as his frigate Squirrel sank in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores, 5 August 1583. Quoted in Richard Hakluyt Third and Last Volume of the Voyages of the English Nation, 1600. Dictionary of Quotations, p. 353

"But these are foolish things to all the wise, And I love wisdom more than she loves me;My tendency is to philosophise On most things, from a tyrant to a tree;But still the spouseless virgin Knowledge flies, What are we? and whence come we? what shall beOur ultimate existence? What's our present?Are questions answerless, and yet incessant."

Earlier variants of this proverb are recorded as Hell is paved with good intentions. recorded as early as 1670, and an even earlier variant by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Hell is full of good intentions or desires.

Similar from Latin: "The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way" — Virgil, the AeneidBook VI line 126

"Lack of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong—these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history."

"It is so amusing the way that mortals misunderstand the shape, or shapes, of time. … In the realms of the ultimate, each person must figure out things for themselves. … Teachers who offer you the ultimate answers do not possess the ultimate answers, for if they did, they would know that the ultimate answers cannot be given, they can only be received."

"The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist or political philosopher. "

Bohn, Henry George; Ray, John (1860). "K". A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising an Entire Republication of Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages : and an Alphabetical Index, in which are Introduced Large Additions, as Well of Proverbs as of Sayings, Sentences, Maxims, and Phrases. H.G. Bohn. p. 437.

Belfour, John (1812). "Long". A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages, the Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. p. 135.

"He complained in no way of the evil reputation under which he lived, indeed, all over the world, and he assured me that he himself was of all living beings the most interested in the destruction of Superstition, and he avowed to me that he had been afraid, relatively as to his proper power, once only, and that was on the day when he had heard a preacher, more subtle than the rest of the human herd, cry in his pulpit: "My dear brethren, do not ever forget, when you hear the progress of lights praised, that the loveliest trick of the Devil is to persuade you that he does not exist!"

George Bohn, Henry; Ray, John (1855). "L". A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages. And a Complete Alphabetical Index. p. 446.

And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?

Translation: What more sacred, what more strongly guarded by every holy feeling, than a man's own home?

A man's worst enemies are often those of his own house. (Strauss, 1994 p. 52)

Good men are hard to find.

"It is often difficult to find a talented or suitably qualified person when you need one."

"Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil."

"The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another."

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

"George: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.Mary: I'll take it. Then what?George: Well, then you could swallow it, and it'd all dissolve, see? And the moonbeams'd shoot out of your fingers and your toes, and the ends of your hair... Am I talking too much?Old Man: Yes! Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to deathGeorge: How's that?Old Man: Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?George: Want me to kiss her, huh.Old Man: Ah, youth is wasted on the wrong people!"

A difficult task, e. g. removing a person/group from a strong position, or changing established ideas cannot be done quickly. It can be achieved gradually, by small steps, a little at a time. (Paczolay, 1997 p. 252)

"But peace was not peace without honor; peace was not peace purchased by the degration of England; peace was not peace, if we did not hold the commanding station we ought to hold, should it be necessary to o to war."

Skimping on small financial matters can cause you to lose money overall. E.G. outsourcing customer service to a third-world country may save a small amount, but may cost a huge amount in lost customers.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in his valedictory address to medical graduates at Harvard University (10 March 1858), published in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. LVIII, No. 8 (25 March 1858), p. 158; this has also been paraphrased "Beware how you take away hope from another human being"

"In private animosities and verbal contentions, where angry passions are apt to rise, and irritating, if not profane expressions are often made use of, as we sometimes see to be the case, not only among neighbors, but in families, between husbands and wives, or parents and children, or the children themselves and other members of the household, - the least said, the better in general. By multiplying words, cases often grow worse instead of better."

"Therefore I was glad that 97 percent of us voted to admit "dropout," which is clean and vivid, but that only 47 percent would accept "senior citizen," which is typical of the pudgy new intruders from the land of sociology, where an illegal alien is now an undocumented resident."

"Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing (anussava),

nor upon tradition (paramparā),

nor upon rumor (itikirā),

nor upon what is in a scripture (piṭaka-sampadāna)

nor upon surmise (takka-hetu),

nor upon an axiom (naya-hetu),

nor upon specious reasoning (ākāra-parivitakka),

nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over (diṭṭhi-nijjhān-akkh-antiyā),

nor upon another's seeming ability (bhabba-rūpatāya),

nor upon the consideration, The monk is our teacher (samaṇo no garū)

'Kalamas, when you yourselves know: "These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness," enter on and abide in them.' "

"It turns out very often that something 'never seen/experienced before' especially in human relationships - has, in fact, in some way or another, happened before. - Human nature and the basic human aspirations did not change." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 461)

"It is an old saying, 'A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword:' and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-play or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever."

Robert Burton cites this traditional proverb in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) Part I, Section II, Member IV, Subsection IV:

George Bohn, Henry; Ray, John (1855). "T". A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages. And a Complete Alphabetical Index. p. 136.

"It may be more difficult or sometimes even impossible to do something later, which can be easily done now." or "One can have time later for something else if a job is done now." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 87)

They blame their tools: why did the carpenter make the bed so badly, if he was any good? He will reply: "Because I used a poor axe and a thick gimlet, because I did not have a rule, I lost my hammer, and the hatchet was blunt", and other things of this kind. [...] And who does not know that artisans make themselves responsible for the deficiencies in their work too, when they cannot pin the blame on material and tools?

George Bohn, Henry; Ray, John (1860). "J". A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising an Entire Republication of Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages : and an Alphabetical Index, in which are Introduced Large Additions, as Well of Proverbs as of Sayings, Sentences, Maxims, and Phrases. p. 436.

"Sustained by truth, man becomes a most sublime spectacle. Here is the foundation of all true eloquence and dignity - the conscience untrammeled gives boldness and majesty, and the whole soul rises to the glorious height of its own nobility."

Second meaning: "Within reality is the possibility of our own personal miracle. Once we ﬁnally understand and accept the truth, the promise of the future is then freed from the shackles of deception, which held it in bondage."

"I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems, but to avoid them. To the extent I have been successful, it is because I concentrated on identifying one-foot hurdles because I acquired any ability to clear seven-footers."

"Actions may be, and indeed sometimes are deceptive in a measure though not as much so as words; and accordingly are received in general as more full and satisfactory proofs of the real disposition and character of persons than verbal expressions."